Beglik Tash ( bg, Беглик Таш, tr, Beylik Taşı), is a prehistoric rock

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

situated on the southern Black Sea coast of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, a few kilometers north of the city of

Primorsko Primorsko ( bg, Приморско ) is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, capital of homonymous municipality, part of Burgas Province. A well-known resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, it is located 52 km south of Burga ...

. It was re-used by the

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

tribes in the Iron Age. At the end of the 19th century, the Czech-Bulgarian historian and archaeologist

Karel Škorpil Karel Václav Škorpil ( bg, Карел Вацлав Шкорпил; 15 May 18599 March 1944) was a Czech-Bulgarian archaeologist and museum worker credited along with his brother Hermann with the establishment of those two disciplines in Bulgar ...

produced the first scientific account of the sanctuary, which was then known as Apostol Tash. In 2002, Bulgarian archaeologists started excavations under the supervision of Tsonia Drazheva. Beglik Tash – an expression whose meaning is probably related to the tax on sheep collected by the Ottoman authorities until 1913, the "beglik", and a Turkish word to describe an area made of large stones, "taşlar" – is a natural rock-formation consisting of megaliths of hardened magma that erupted from a

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

era volcano. Most of the megaliths have traces of carvings for the purposes of Thracian rituals. There are also the remains of a

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...

that visitors can pass through. A Thracian sun-clock is formed from huge stones. There is also a 150-ton rock that rests on the ground in only two places, and a "womb-cave". Archaeologists have found ceramic artefacts from the

Early Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

(10th–6th century BC),

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, and the Middle Ages, as well as a man-made stone altar at the end of the natural cave which proves that it was used as a place of worship. Every day at noon, a ray of sunlight enters the narrow entrance of the cave, and projects itself on the back of cave. According to the Bulgarian archaeologist

Alexander Fol Alexander Fol ( bg, Александър Фол) (born in Sofia, Bulgaria on July 3, 1933; died in Sofia on March 1, 2006) was a Bulgarian historian and Thracologist. In 1957, he studied history at the University of St. Kliment Ohridski in Sofia ...

some of the Thracian womb-caves had the property of letting the sunlight in only at certain times of the day, a natural phenomenon seen by the Thracians as acts of symbolic fertilization of the Earth womb or the Mother Goddess by the sun phallus of the Sun God. The site is an open-air museum maintained by the

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

Historical Society. It is visited annually by 40,000 tourists.Archaeology in Bulgaria: ''ibid''
/ref> Beglik Tash is located in the vicinity of two other Thracian sites: the city of Ranuli and the fortress of Pharmakida in the Strandhza mountain. File:Beglik Tash - P1020607.JPG, A general view File:Beglik Tash P1020638.JPG, An element of the complex File:Begliktash BG General Plan.jpg, Begliktash BG General Plan

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External links

Pictures of Bulgaria – Beglik Tash

Thracian sanctuary Beglik Tash

Archaeology in Bulgaria, 14 March 2016: Ancient Thrace shrine Begli Tash near Bulgaria's Black Sea resort Primorsko attracts over 40,000 visitors annually

{{European megaliths Bulgarian Black Sea Coast Geography of Thrace Archaeological sites in Bulgaria Buildings and structures in Burgas Province Megalithic monuments in Europe Rock formations of Bulgaria Landforms of Burgas Province History of Burgas Province

See also

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